ESL001: Elementary English as a Second Language

When we look at conjunctions in more detail, we can easily see how they are very different from the other parts of speech. We already learned that conjunctions are used to connect words, phrases, or sentences. They act like a bridge. Let's see what other information we can add to all this to learn more about conjunctions. 

There are three types of conjunctions in Standard English: coordinating, subordinating, and correlative. We are going to take a closer look at the first two types.

Coordinating conjunctions connect, or bridge, two parts of a sentence that have a similar form or equal importance in the sentence. For example, we can connect two or more nouns or noun phrases or two or more verbs or verb phrases, and so on. Coordinating conjunctions help to connect these parts of a sentence in an organized way that makes sentences easier to understand what we read. There are seven coordinating conjunctions that can be easily remembered by the acronym FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.

• Robert and Craig are friends. (2 nouns are connected)

• My favorite teacher and his beautiful wife walk to work every day. (2 noun phrases are connected)

• Robert lives and teaches in California. (2 verbs are connected)

• Robert lives in California, but his friend lives in Texas. (2 sentences are connected)
  

Subordinating conjunctions connect two parts of a sentence by showing the relationship between them. This relationship shows that the two parts do not have equal importance. The word "subordinate" means something is considered less important, so a sentence can have parts that are of lower importance. Subordinating conjunctions can help us connect ideas to create different types of sentences. There are many subordinating conjunctions, but some of the most common are because, since, although, and when.

• They are happy because their life is perfect. (2 unequal parts of a sentence are connected)

• The first part of the sentence "They are happy" is more important because it is a complete idea. 

• The second part of the sentence "because their life is perfect" is not of equal form or importance in the sentence because it is not a complete idea.

• When Robert teaches his classes, his wife feeds the cats. (2 unequal parts of a sentence are connected)

• The first part of the sentence "When Robert teaches his classes" is not of equal form or importance in the sentence because it is not a complete idea.

• The second part of the sentence "his wife feeds the cats" is more important because it is a complete idea.